My Article Was Perfectly Fine, Till It Turned All Green!
Highlighting Etiquette. Yes, such a thing exists
If you are a newbie writer like me, you would also be like a dog with two tails seeing your notification number touch three figures.
Happened to me this morning.
I opened my Medium account and saw 108 notifications!
What? I checked again. I am seeing 1–0–8. That’s 108.
I relished that number a bit more (I am sure a lot of you do that, before clicking the notification bell). In fact, I got up and made my morning cup of warm lemon water — to gear up for the daunting task of managing my fan mail.
I was already feeling successful. From here on, there’s no looking back. I could almost see myself giving talks.
I came back with the water. Gave one more look, rolled up my sleeves, and clicked on the bell.
And my heart sank.
68 of the notifications were highlights —
From a single person, in a single article!
Really!?
Every single line was highlighted.
(Out of the blue, I remembered one of my classmates who would highlight every line of his book, because everything seemed important to him.)
I get it. Maybe someone liked the article very much. Thank you for that. Thank you, again.
As a writer that should elate me. But it didn’t.
It felt more like someone scribbled on my painting.
So, here goes the rule.
Highlight only those critical points/areas that, according to you, need additional focus.
Isn’t that the whole point? Highlights help readers get a gist of all that is important and needs to be consumed in a story, especially the skimmers.
Highlighting everything is the same as no highlights! So, next time you feel the tingle on the tip of your finger to become a serial highlighter, restrain that urge.
Here, I have said it.
(Will go for a walk and cool off.)
